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Verena Bentele
Photo: Michael Lucan, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, via Wikimedia Commons13

Verena Bentele

German paralympic biathlete and politician

Verena Bentele (born 28 February 1982, in Lindau) is a blind German Paralympic biathlete and cross-country skier. She studied at the Carl-Strehl Schule, a special school for the blind and partially sighted in Marburg, Germany.2

From Wikipedia’s article on Verena Bentele (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Born Feb 28, 1982.1

About

She won her first Paralympic medals (one gold, two silver, one bronze) at the 1998 Winter Paralympics, followed by four gold medals at the 2002 Winter Paralympics, as well as two gold and one bronze medal at the 2006 Winter Paralympics. She was also winner of the Combined World Cup in Biathlon und Cross-Country in 2006.

From Wikipedia’s article on Verena Bentele, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2

Companies

Early life and education

  • Date not recordedLudwig-Maximilians-Universität München3

Career

Occupation: skier, athlete, cross-country skier, politician, biathlete.6

During the 2009 German blind cross country championship, Bentele had a serious accident. Her sighted guide failed to give proper directions, so she fell down a slope in a dry river bed. She tore a cruciate ligament in her knee, and suffered finger and liver injuries, and damaged one kidney so badly that it had to be removed.

Despite this, only a year later, Bentele had her best Olympic result, winning five gold medals in the 2010 Winter Paralympics in Vancouver. As a result of her performance at the Games, Bentele was named Best Female at the Paralympic Sport Awards.

Bentele has won the "Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability" award for the year 2011. Late in 2011, she announced her retirement at the age of 29. In 2014 Bentele was inducted into the Paralympic Hall of Fame.

Bentele was nominated by the Social Democratic Party to be a delegate to the Federal Convention for the purpose of electing the President of Germany in 2010, 2012 and 2017. She joined the party in 2012.

From Wikipedia’s article on Verena Bentele (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Personal life

  • BornFeb 28, 1982, Lindau7
  • CitizenshipGermany8

Awards

  • 2020Germany's Sports Hall of Fame9
  • 2011Sparkasse Prize for Cult-Figures of Sport9
  • 2010Golden Honorary Ring of the City of Munich9
  • 2010Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg9
  • Date not recordedBayerische Verfassungsmedaille in silver9
  • Date not recordedSilbernes Lorbeerblatt9

Sources

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